Petition opposes proposed grading changes

More than 1,200 Yalies have signed an online petition launched Monday night urging faculty members to oppose a proposal that would transition Yale from a letter-grade to a 100-point grading system.

Josh Kalla ’14 and Baobao Zhang ’13, a former multimedia editor for the News, circulated the petition to the student body yesterday. In a preface to the petition, Kalla states that the committee’s proposal would negatively affect Yale’s atmosphere, making the academic environment more stressful and competitive. Students who signed the petition expressed similar concerns about the negative impact a 100 percent scale might have on Yale’s collaborative environment and student happiness.

Yale faculty will vote on the committee’s proposals at this Thursday’s Yale College faculty meeting

Read the text of the petition below:

To:
Yale University Faculty
I’m writing to you to ask you to consider attending the Yale faculty meeting on April 4 at 4:00pm and to vote against the proposal to change Yale’s grading system.

This proposal will negatively affect Yale’s atmosphere. It will make students far too focused on grades and it will make the academic environment more competitive and more stressful. If this proposal passes, students will be less willing to take classes outside of their majors and instead will take classes based on easy grading.

This proposal will make grading more difficult for certain members of the faculty; how does one distinguish between, say, a 92 and a 93 on a paper or project? There are so many classes and assignments for which this proposal makes no sense.

Please, attend the faculty meeting and vote no on the proposed changes to the grading system.
Sincerely, [Your name]